Merrimack’s Carly Muscaro Runs Top Time of 400m Qualifying at NCAA Championships

Senior Carly Muscaro (Ashland, Mass.) qualified for the 400-meter dash finals for the seventh straight season – indoors and outdoors combined – while sophomore Michaela Pernell (Naugatuck, Conn.) also made her debut at outdoor nationals, as both members the Merrimack College women’s track & field team wrapped up their opening performances at the 2017 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at IMG Academy in Florida.

Competing at the NCAA Championships for the eighth and final time as a Warrior, Muscaro – who qualified for both the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes in the final semester of her legendary career – set the tone with a blistering time that would not be surpassed in the first heat of the preliminary round.

The Ashland, Massachusetts, native clocked a 52.28 in her first outing of the weekend, marking her second-fastest time in the event this spring. Her only faster performance was in the preliminary round at the New England Championships, when she posted a time of 52.06 seconds.

Her time was nearly seven tenths of a second faster than the next-closest competitor, which was Mary Bergman of Southwest Baptist, who ran a preliminary time of 52.97 seconds.

Fellow Northeast-10 Conference competitor Shatajah Wattely rounded out the podium with a third-place time of 53.85 seconds.

Meanwhile, Pernell became the first student-athlete in program history to compete in the 100-meter dash – men or women, indoor or outdoor seasons – at the NCAA Championships on Thursday.

The sophomore concluded an incredible outdoor season in 18th place in the preliminary round with a final time of 11.88 seconds.

Pernell, an all-region and all-conference first team performer, was the 100-meter champion at both the NE10 and New England Championships and was part of the 4×100-meter relay team that won the New England crown and a 4×400-meter relay team that was a conference champion, as well.

Mike McMahon is in his 13th year covering Merrimack College for The Eagle Tribune and is the founder and managing editor of The Mack Report. Mike also serves on staff as a senior writer at College Hockey News. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMcMahonCHN